Turn To Tara: Security guard to the stars alleges assault at ShopRite

A Yonkers man who is a security guard to the stars says he accidentally walked out of a local ShopRite without paying for cough syrup and was then viciously assaulted by security.

Soularis Saunders Turned To Tara in the hope of preventing situations like these from happening again.

Saunders says he accidentally left the Prospect Street ShopRite with a bottle of cough syrup in his pocket last year after getting distracted by fans on the checkout line. Aside from being a well-known security guard, Saunders is also a frequent face on VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop.”

Instead of being questioned by security at the supermarket, Saunders says he was attacked.

“The crowd kept building up…my clothes were all ripped up…I busted my head on a cement pillar…my ear busted open...I just get ringing in my ears,” he says.

Saunders was charged with burglary and says his successful career took a hit. He says after his security license got revoked, he turned to attorney Francois Annabi.

“He was distracted. He paid for all the other items, why would he steal a $4 bottle of Robitussin? It didn't make any sense,” he says.

The Westchester district attorney agreed and dropped all charges against Saunders last week. Annabi says a lawsuit against ShopRite and its security will be filed this month.

ShopRite’s corporate office said that its security guards acted in self-defense after Saunders first threatened them, but News 12’s investigative unit is also looking into other allegations of heavy-handed encounters with security guards at its supermarkets.

A Westchester private school teacher who made international headlines after being accused of taking a lesson on slavery too far is defending herself, and she contends the controversy stems from a false accusation.

A Westchester private school teacher who made international headlines after being accused of taking a lesson on slavery too far is defending herself, and she contends the controversy stems from a false accusation.